It starts back in fifth grade, some 40 years ago, lucky me…. I had
the biggest boobs in the class. Girls weren’t built like they
are now back then and I was one of only a handful that wore a “real”
bra. Most girls were still in training bras then. There
wasn’t much teasing in the lower grades but as soon as I got to high
school, the nickname “stuffa” was lovingly bestowed upon me by what
you’d say were the jealous ones because they thought I stuffed my
bra. Fast forward to 2005, a loving husband and two beautiful
girls later, hubby walks in from a hard days work to find me in the
kitchen crying. He asks what’s wrong and I blurt out…. I HATE
MY EFFING BOOBS! Now mind you, this has happened at least two
other times over the course of our marriage because they just kept
getting bigger and bigger. I would have my cry, wipe my tears and
move on - through many more years; until it would happen again and
each time my hubby would say, “if they bother you that much, do
something about it.”

Of course I would think about it but
that’s as far as it would go. I worked with a woman that had a
breast reduction years prior and she described the whole process to
me. She had to have years of documentation from chiropractors,
physical therapists, etc., which I had none of because I had never
once complained about by boobs to any of my doctors and the thought
of having my nipple cut out and moved just didn’t hit any high notes
with me so I put aside the notion of starting years of physical
therapy and starting a paper trail because that’s what I thought you
needed in order to even be considered for a breast reduction and I
moved on through life once again.

In the meantime, I was reunited with one of my high school friends
that I had lost touch with over the years and she was in the process
of waiting for insurance coverage at her new job and the first thing
she was going to do once she was insured was have a breast
reduction. Her cousin and two sisters had breast
reductions over the years by the same doctor and of course, that’s
who she was going to go to. I was in the process of heading to
Florida for my niece’s August wedding and of course, I needed to
find something to wear - so off I go and I had made up my mind I
wanted to wear a pant suit. Well, we all know how that goes,
the pants fit and the jacket doesn’t close.

None of the
jackets close nor do the tanks fit that come with the three piece
suits because the boobs are just too damn big so I put plan B into
action. I’ll just find another top to wear under the jacket
and all will be well. This was the turning point for me
because I tried on 21 tops, yes, you read that right, 21 before
something even came close to fitting or looking half way decent.
I bought the 22nd one and after standing in the dressing
room with tears rolling down my cheeks, I made up my mind that that
was it…. crying in dressing rooms is no way to go through life and I
decided that the boobs had to go right then and there.

Back to my high school friend, she had her consult appointment in
September of 2006 and the next thing I know, after wanting to wait
until after the holidays, she’s got a surgery date of January, 2007
and she was on her way to itty bitty titty land. She got
approved without having any documentation, no doctor reports, no
nothing which I thought was mandatory and this is what got my wheels
spinning to look into the possibility of having the procedure
covered by insurance.

If it turned out that it wasn’t covered, my darling hubby told me
we would pay for it but I figured, what do I have to lose and after
seeing her results, which were pretty nice, hubby and I decided to
go to my girlfriend’s PS for a consult. I called mid January for an
appointment and got in pretty quick as my consult was in early
February.

As you all know, they know ahead of time what you’re going
to see them for and the first thing the plastic surgeon asks me is,
“what brings you here today?” I am thinking, you know damn right
well why I’m here and you’re asking me that? I don’t know,
maybe they all say that but it just didn’t come across right to me
and we go into the whole discussion of “why I’m there” and I ask to
see his before and after pictures.

Again, knowing ahead of time why
I’m there, you’d think he’d have pictures at the consult ready to
show us but no, he goes huffing and puffing around his office trying
to find them and when he does, he opens a box and all his pictures
are on slides!!! WTF?? And no projector!!! He
starts handing them to me to look at and I’m thinking, ok, this guy
must think because my girlfriend just had it done I’m a shoe in and
I’ll be another happy customer. WRONG!!! We left there
and both my hubby and I said NO WAY is he touching me! I asked
my girlfriend if she had looked at his before and after pictures and
she said no, she went to him based on her cousin’s and sister’s
results and just gave this guy her business, which is fine for her I
guess but he wasn’t getting a penny of mine.

We go home and I’m fuming, and I’m thinking now what. A few
days pass and it was like I was hit on the head with a 50 ton
boulder…. DUH! A girlfriend of mine which I don’t see very
often but am in contact with is an OR nurse at one of the state’s
most highly regarded hospitals. I call and ask her, if you
were going to have a breast reduction, who would you recommend and
she proceeds to tell me that she has been thinking of having it done
too and this is who I would have it done by and she names three
doctors in the order of first choice to third. She proceeds to
tell me that she’s assisted many a PS during breast reductions and
kept raving about her number one’s choice of PS’s work over and over
again.

I called for a consult and I had to wait five months to see Dr.
Peggy Howrigan. I’m thinking that speaks volumes right there
seeing as I only had to wait a few weeks to see the other PS.
I called in February and my consult was in mid July, so I had a ways
to go with waiting. Once at the consult with Dr. Howrigan, my
husband and I sat down and immediately felt at ease. She was
prepared to show us albums of before and pictures, explained the
whole procedure in detail and when I showed her pictures of how
small I’d like to be! The doctor said I’d look like a pear and
I told her that I didn’t care, I like pears and that I wanted to be
as small as possible. I also asked what happens if insurance
denies me and without hesitation she said “we appeal.” COOL!

With all my research, I was finding that most insurance companies
require 500 grams per breast to be removed to be covered and my
insurance only requires 375 grams. I got my approval letter 10
days later on July 31st and I was in shock. I was
totally expecting to be denied and then the fear set in. Other
than having two C-sections that I was awake for, I had never been
put under and that scared the crap out of me but I knew the only way
to achieve freedom from the boobage was to have surgery and I kept
focused on the itty bitty end result. I called a few
days later and I could have had my surgery in mid September, but
because of other commitments, I had to put it off a week or two.
My pre-op was September 24 and surgery was scheduled for Tuesday
October 2nd.

We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am and surgery was at 7:40.
My OR friend had set up my surgical team and she was also there to
greet me and help get me ready. Dr. Howrigan came into the
prep room to mark me up and I gave her the pictures I had brought to
my consult of the size I wanted to be and she took those pictures
into the OR with her and she did a phenomenal job. While I was
getting prepped, another nurse who I graduated high school with came
in to wish me well. I told her about the “stuffa” comments and
wanted to know if she was one of the meanies in school and I told
her no, she wasn’t. My hand started tingling where the IV was
and I said something about it to the nurses and they said “you may
want to put your head back and relax”! Well, that’s the last
thing I remember.

I don’t remember leaving the prep room or
seeing the OR but according to my hubby, I was carrying on a
perfectly normal conversation being rolled down the hall on my way
to the OR and I was told I put myself onto the OR table all by
myself. LOL - what OR table? Gotta love that happy
juice!

I woke up and the only pain I had was a burning sensation under
my left boob. I was shot up with morphine and when I woke up
again, all was well. I was in a little discomfort but that was
all. I stayed the night and I had drains that were taken out
the next morning. I was wrapped in a mummy wrap and was sent
home with a post-op appt. that Friday. All was well until we
got home on Wed. morning.

We got home at 11am and hubby’s Mom
called at 11:30 to tell us that his Dad was not doing well and off
he went. We had not told them about my reduction as he had
been in failing health for sometime prior to surgery. He
passed away Thursday morning. We went to my post-op appt. of
Friday for the unveiling and it was like a load had been lifted off
my shoulders…. Literally! They were beautiful! I hugged
my PS and thanked her profusely for giving me a new lease on life.

I took three weeks off, one week for surgery and two weeks to sit
and do absolutely nothing. Other than my father-in-law’s wake
and funeral, that’s exactly what I did and I think that made all the
difference in my healing process. I slept in the recliner for
six weeks as it was more comfy than my bed and as soon as I could
sleep on my side, I was back in bed.

Long before surgery, I had been lurking behind the scenes for
months and months and months on the old BR4Y forum and on Make Me
Heal. At ten weeks I posted pictures on both sites and finally
introduced myself. I was contacted by a member by the name of
Arboretum on Make Me Heal - who lives nearby and she was so
impressed with my results, she had her BR done by my PS in March of
this year. We’ve had eats and drinks a few times and have kept
in touch and she is as thrilled with her results as I am. I am
so thankful for those that post pictures as I found the size and
shape I wanted just days before my surgery on MMH posted by their
member hoping for “C” and I couldn’t thank her enough for posting
them and giving me the chance to further express my wishes. If
my pictures can help or reassure just one person, I’ll gladly flash
for years to come.

Other than some scar tissue that has shrunk to the size smaller
than a pea above my left nipple and a little pucker of skin on the
side of righty that I'm leaving alone, my recovery has been a
breeze. I never had any bleeding, oozing, separations or any
complications what so ever. I wish recovery was like that for
everyone! I used nothing on my scars and my first post-op
mammogram was a piece of cake. It was nice that for the first
time in my life, my boobs didn’t take up the whole plate!

There you have it, my Breast Reduction story. When I started
this journey, I was a 36DDD/E stuffed into a 36DD. One,
because I could never find a bra bigger than that in the stores that
fit right and two, I refused to go to a specialty shop and pay more
than $20 for a bra. I have NEVER paid more than $20 for a bra
and I never will. I’m now wearing bras sized 34B/C and 36B.
I had 392 grams taken off of lefty and 443 grams taken off of
righty, which is about one pound each. In the beginning, I
called my Primary Care Provider for the two referrals to the PS’s
and I have not seen a single bill for my surgery. All I have
paid out of pocket is about $200 total in co-payments. I am
going to be 50 at the end of the year and all I have to say is …..
LIFE IS GOOD!

I honestly didn’t think I’d still be hanging around and posting
here one year later but I’m so glad I am and thankful for all the
friendships I’ve made along the way. You ladies are a blast
and I hope to someday meet some of you. You’ve made this
remarkable journey so memorable, I’m at a loss for words so I will
just say THANK YOU to each and every one of you. You’re all
special and it wouldn’t have been the same without you!